We can hear you shouting from here. “But TechRadar,” you bellow, “Debian is massive! How can you call it ‘rising’?” Here’s how: it is definitely a rising distro. While Ubuntu did a great job bringing Linux to the masses, many users brought on board by its orange-and-brown glitz and glamour have moved away thanks to a few controversial changes. The natural post-Ubuntu route, given the huge amount of shared DNA, is its parent OS, Debian.

There may not be a better time to make the leap than now, with the latest of Debian’s ‘when it’s ready’ releases about to drop. Version 9, subtitled ‘Stretch’, is frozen and ready for release once its list of bugs is ironed out. Given Debian’s huge range of application options, its massive list of possible desktops, and the stability and almost universal compatibility of its package manager, plain old Debian is one of the strongest Linux choices going.

Can't argue with that. I've made the rounds of many distros over the years and continue to do so today. But in my case they are for specific things I might be testing or interested in for some odd reason, or just out of curiosity. My primary workstation has been, and probably always will be stock Debian.